Step-by-Step Endeavors

I have been contemplating how to accomplish several things like: reaching a goal weight, becoming financially free, magnifying my mothering skills, and helping with ward goals. It sounds overwhelming, and I am one to get easily overwhelmed, but I have come to realize that if I take it 1 step at a time, it will grow and build!
As Dave Ramsey related in a story " No matter how many times I read 'The Tortoise and The Hare', the tortoise wins EVERY SINGLE TIME!"
So my turtle steps are this week:

Financial: plan our paycheck on Friday - I AM keeping a checkbook for the first time in 8 years!! Also I want to use cash for groceries this paycheck.

Weight: Do not eat after 10pm at night

Mommy: I will pray with each child individually before bed, and Friday will be our "reading hour".

Church: Learn how to index and get my pedigree chart up to date. (I'm already on track to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of March:)

Housekeeping: I will work on 1 target room a day this week, and declutter the computer desk!

I hope this doesn't sound like bragging, because I am just recording my thoughts, and who knows what I will get done?? io'm trying to jumpstart my motivation:) I'd love to hear what y'all are working on. That always inspires me!

Spring Break Adventures

Brooklyn in the playhouse at a childrens museum.
Cole loved the ball tubes.

Tina and a friend playing tic tac toe.

The dinosaur puzzle - you do the bones and then the skin!

The start of the riverwalk.

Sidewalk Chalk fun.

The end of the riverwalk...Aren't my kids silly? I pushed them with about 10 minutes to go:)

We had spring break last week and I wanted to do something fun everyday here to check out the fun things around our residence.

Monday was game day. We made a bingo game together, and played some games Braden got from his birthday.

Tuesday was class day...I go to a cooking class and amoney class. The kids love the child care:) Wednesday was cleaning out the closets day. Tina loves the fashion show part. We also went to the park with some great friends.

Thursday was a trip to Farmington to go to an awesome Children's museum. We also had to browse the Dollar Tree located in the Mall. (there are no dollar stores in Durango which kills me!) The dumb thing happened when I brought 4 kids to the candy store. I have been reading a great book called "The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches" by Jeff Yeager. He has a "what the hell was I thinking" audit at the end of the year where he puts stupid expenses. I think the $11 I spent there would qualify. But it was a fun experience, and I have a weakness for flavored cow tails:)

Friday was exploring the "riverwalk" We absolutely loved that. They have a path that follows the river all through the city. You can bike or walk, so we thought we would explore and we made it to the library and back and one way only took 24 minutes! I was amazed and we definately want to start where we ended last time and try to make it through the rest of the walk.
Saturday was a blast. Dave has built his store up to where he can have Saturdays off - which is huge for us since he works 70 hours a week. So this day we fixed up our bikes and went for a bike ride to the school to play on the playground and came home. I am hoping to get them out more often! Braden felt more comfortable once he rode for awhile and Brooklyn and Cole rode in the trailer. Tina is on 2 wheels. We ended the day with sidewalk chalk (thank you dollar tree!).

I know it sounds like a dull week, but I have the greatest kids who find fun in anything. I'm so grateful that we got to have some fun adventures and spend time together as a family.

Braden's 6!!

Braden wanted a Robot party after seeing the cake picture in the family fun magazine. Dave did a great job decorating, don't you think? It reminds me of the short circuit robot:) He had 2 friends come over and they played: robot dancing, pin the antennae on the robot, and they made robots out of tin cans, magnets and hardware. He said, "I had a fun time doing the party. The cake was so good and everyone chose to eat one with a donut on it." We sure love our Braden-Boy!

February Catch-up

Here are a few highlights...I will post a special Braden party later.

We went to the Anasazi Heritage Center for Valentine's day (school was out). The kids loved it! I've tried several times to post a video, and so this time I'm not going to since it ends up getting deleted and I want to finish this post!

Brooklyn has some weird bumps on her side. I took her to the dr. and found out they are called "mulloscum" It's passed through families, but not contagious. It will go away in a few years as long as they aren't picked at. It's pretty interesting.

I joined flylady.net to help me keep up with all the housework. Here is the shining sink! I love it too. I'm tweaking her system to work for me, and so far so good:)

On the last day of Jan, Braden lost his tooth, and he was so excited because he was only 5! It was loose that morning and fell out while he ate a 3 Musketeers bar:)

Toothless no more...

My baby is finally growing up. He has molars, but no front teeth. Well they are starting to grow in, so I thought I would take a picture before they really do. Sorry it's blurry, but it's hard for a 17 month to hold still with his 3 siblings all clamboring for attention...Isn't he a cutie? We sure love this boy, even though he keeps us up at night (he hasn't learned how to sleep in a crib yet...) And he has the cutest sound when he is tired. He growls, and all the kids in Dave's sunday school class recognize it. He learned how to walk, and he looks like a little cowboy with bowed legs. He is so small that he doesn't look like he is suppossed to walk yet. He loves to push buttons, what baby doesn't. And at random times I hear the panic alarm on our van, and I know he has my keys. He laughs at the kids all the time, and is still pretty attached to my hip. He's getting better with babysitters, but only if Tina is around. I don't know how he will be in nursery, but we are excited for the new transition next month. He is our cutie col-ie.

My Monthly Mentor

Hey everyone,
Just thought I would enlighten you all by my newfound excitement. I found a book and website that I LOVE! It's called "Double your income doing what you love." I have been really into listening to audio books at this new library which is awesome! And I have been focusing on self-help. I found this and thought it sounded interesting, but I didn't realize that it was all about setting goals! Raymond Aaron has a new refreshing way of looking at your life and setting goals around what you love.
The part that hooked me was called "Instant Gratification Society." Here it's a good thing. You take something you want, and you can do it every month! He chose to "take a glorious weekly vacation every month." Now I know you are thinking that is impossible, and he did too, so he took "abbreviated" vacations to get him into the habit. At first it was a stroll in the park, but he called it his "glorious one week vacation that month." The next week he went to visit his sister for the weekend, all the time calling it his "glorious one week vacation"
So for my instant gratification society, I am going to deposit $1,000 in my savings account every month! This month it will probably only be $10 but I am getting in the habit, and I'm going to call it my $1,000 monthly deposit. I'd love to hear your "instant gratification society" membership requirements:)
The next part talks about the goals for the month, and it has different categories than I have ever heard of before. So to report, I'm going to post them here, and at the beginning of next month, I will track my progress, and make new goals (and if any of you have ideas for ways to achieve some of them, let me know!): The categories have an acronym of MAINLY, and they have levels to achieve. I get points for what level I complete
M is for Mess. Mine to clean up is my finances. My bronze medal is to track my expenses, My silver is to set up a budget, and my gold medal is to pay off a debt! I am delegating some of this task to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It starts tomorrow, I'm so excited!!
A is for acknowledgement: I'm going to acknowledge my family. Bronze: show them an act of love everyday, Silver: write an individual love note to each member, Gold: take them out on a "date" with me individually.
I is for increase my wealth: My goal is business related, and I'm not doing too hot on it. I may have to reevaluate that. Bronze: I will call 2 people a day, Silver: I will call 3 people a day, Gold: I will call 4 people daily, and become a strong 1K
N is for new: I want to try a new restaurant in this great city:) Bronze: try an ice cream cone with the kids, Silver: go out with Dave for lunch one day - his birthday at the Mahogany Grill, Gold: go to dinner at the Mahogany grill!
L is for Learning: I'm going to learn Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. Bronze: I will alter a picture, Silver: I will make one scrapbook page, Gold: I will finish 2010 scrapbook pages!!
Y is for Yourself: I am going to weigh no more than 157 lbs by Jan 31st. Bronze: I will exercise 18 times this month, Silver: I will make 28 homemade dinners, Gold: I will keep track of what I eat everyday!
If you want to check out the website, he has papers you can fill out with your personal MAINLY goals on chapter 7. You just have to add your email and a password, and I haven't gotten any extra emails from him. I have had a blast, and I think by keeping it down to a month, I should accomplish more than if I make yearly plans! Hope you all have fun:)

Christmas

Here is our new Christmas Eve tradition along with the pj's We now get to open and play a game. It's nice to do on a year away from the family.
Here is our annual line up. Sorry it's a little dark.

Here is the "Christmas aftermath!" The kids were extra good this year:)

We also were very surprised that we were chosen to receive free tickets to ride the polar express. It was an experience that they all enjoyed. They got a bell from Santa, and hot chocolate from the cute train workers.
Although our Christmas was very different, it was wonderful to relax. Usually we rush up to Logan about 30 minutes after the kids open their presents. This year they got to open all of them and play with everyone! Tina is stretching our technology skills...she got an ipod and a nintendo DS. She also received rollerblades, barbies, books, and outfits and a pillowpet. Braden was all about the Legos this year. He got a transforming car, and harry potter sets. He also got Lego Star Wars for the wii and plays it until his eyes start turning red along with a pillow pet to rest his eyes with. Brooklyn got a kitchen, barbies and books, a pillow pet and a very cute dress! Cole got a fisher price car set and lots of cars. He also gave us the gift of learning how to walk over the holidays. Although he is still pretty attached to my hip:) Dave got a Dave Ramsey book from me along with the commitment that we will get out of debt! He also got towels, and clicking hand weights - that he has been using really faithfully! I got Adobe Photoshop!! I'm so excited to learn how to use it, a laminator (for all the things in singing time:), a piano handbook, and Tinkerbell PJ pants. It was a very wonderful Christmas and we are so grateful for all the cards, gifts and wonderful greetings from everyone. Thanks for making it amazing for us despite the distance!